Each of the Three Major Night Views of Japan (Nihon Sandai Yakei) has something unique. The view over Kobe from the Mount Rokko observatory, in today’s photo, is the tallest of them, from a height of 700 meters, while the view over Hakodate is from 334 meters and the view over Nagasaki from 333 meters.

Seen from the observatory, Kobe (located at the base of the mountain) and Osaka (which is 25 kilometers away) look like a single city, separated by a narrow water channel. It looks like the city spreads out infinitely…